How Percy Met Audrey
by Tape Monkey
Summary: Percy Weasley didn't want to go to the Muggle world. In fact, he wasn't planning to. But if he had known that he would meet a certain Muggle girl named Audrey Sharpe... he DEFINITELY wouldn't have gone.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N On JKR's site, she says that Percy marries a girl named Audrey. Now, we have NO idea who she is at all. But I do, for I am psychic and awesome. I used my special zombie magic to figure out who she was. What? You say zombies don't have magic? Obviously the unicorns have been brainwashing you (cough MARAGOOSE!). Sorry, inside joke! **

**Okay, so this'll all be from Percy's POV, 3****rd**** person. Takes place 3 years after the war, so Percy's 23 years old (unless I did the math wrong!). He's still Junior Secretary to the Minister, but the Minister is Kingsley! I'll try to update AMAP! (as much as possible!)**

Chapter 1

Percy Weasley was late, and, as always, he _hated _it. There was no worse feeling out there than walking into a meeting and having everyone stare at you, especially your boss.

He was walking as fast as he could without running, because everyone knows how inappropriate it is to run in the workplace. He risked a quick glance at his interdepartmental memo.

_Weasley,_

_ Meeting is at 1:00 PM on level 3, in the office for the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee. Members of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office will be there. Don't be late. _

_ -Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister of Magic_

Level 3? He was only on level 2! At least that was close. He looked at the giant clock overhead. 1:03. Oh, if only he hadn't gone out for lunch!

He rushed past the Auror department, sparing a quick wave to his little brother Ronald and his friend Harry Potter, who were eating lunch.

"Hey, Perce! Always rushing, that one," he could hear Ron say. "At least he doesn't hate us anymore." Percy ignored this and hurried on. He dashed into the nearest lift (stuffed full of people, naturally) right before the doors closed.

"Excuse me, pardon me, sorry! I'm late for a meeting!" He elbowed his way into a more comfortable position. Twenty excruciating seconds later, a rather battered Percy Weasley stepped out of the lift and immediately tripped and fell flat on his face. He picked himself up and straightened his horn-rimmed glasses, scowling at the portrait that was now laughing uproariously at him. He peeked at the clock. 1:05. He scurried around a corner and into the meeting room. He saw a long table with three occupants, two of whom he didn't recognize. The third person was none other than the Minister of Magic himself.

"Ah, Mr. Weasley. We saved you a spot," said Kingsley in his reassuringly deep voice. Percy breathed a deep sigh of relief and slid into his seat. Across the table, a skeletal old witch glared at him. He coughed and looked away. Percy did a quick scan of the table. Along with Shacklebolt and the old woman, there was a middle-aged man – fat and balding and _very _stereotypical.

"So, we might as well bring this meeting to order. Mr. Paksu, if you would like to give your report, then go ahead."

The fat man coughed and stood up. _Paksu and Umbridge would make an excellent couple_, thought Percy. Then he felt bad.

"As you may or may not know – probably not, cause I haven't told you yet-" He gave a little wheezing laugh. "Well, anyway, there was this Muggle the other day, and he went into this pawn shop and accidentally bought a book that glued itself to his fingers, and now it won't come off!" Paksu guffawed. "Stupid Muggle, the filthy creature had it coming – oh wait, I'm not allowed to say that anymore! Well, what I _meant _to say was that we gotta help it, quick! Oh, _him_, sorry!" The enormous man settled back down into his chair, still chuckling.

"Thank you, Paksu. You may go while I discuss this with Mr. Weasley and Ms. Jenkins," said Kingsley.

"What? I just sat down!" complained Paksu. But he got up and left, much to Percy's relief. Shacklebolt sighed.

"So as you might guess, we need to send someone to Obliviate him and repair the damage. We would send Paksu, but he has been known to just hex them instead." Percy tried to look surprised.

"And my old bones can't take traveling anymore!" said the old woman. "It's just too bad all you youngsters are hooligans these days! Hooligans and hoodlums, always wrecking my shrivelfigs!" Percy nodded politely.

"Don't you nod at me, you- you _hooligan!_" Percy inadvertently scooted his chair back a couple inches.

"Thank you, Ms. Jenkins. I'll talk to Weasley alone now." The ancient woman grumbled and shuffled out of the room.

"Those two are quite the handful," sighed Shacklebolt. Percy couldn't agree more. "So what we didn't get around to is that I'd like you to go do the dirty work. Do you think you can do that?" Percy was overjoyed. An assignment, given to him by the Minister himself!

"Yes sir, I do believe I can do this task!" His glasses slid down his nose and he pushed them back up.

Kingsley chuckled and handed Percy a sheath of paper. "Here's your assignment. I expect it all to be fixed up by Wednesday afternoon. Percy nodded furiously.

"I'll do it, sir!" he said. Then he dashed out of the room, making sure that his Ministry badge was clearly visible to everyone that passed him.

~the next day!~

Percy stood outside the thing called a "bus stop" nervously. He had tried to ask Harry to give him an emergency briefing on all things Muggle, but he had been far too- ah, _busy-_ with Ginny. The bus pulled up and the doors opened. He looked cautiously at the other Muggles to see what they were doing. He figured it would be safest to do exactly what they did, so he followed the single mother in front of him very carefully. Finally, he was on the bus. He looked around with dismay and saw that there was only one open seat- next to a girl about his age. He settled down nervously. The girl didn't look at him, which was fine by Percy. She was drawing something in an open notebook. Percy found himself glancing at her hair. It was one of the strangest hair colors he'd ever seen. Most of it was light blonde, but one section of it was a bright blue. He wondered how it got that way.

"Do you mind?" said the girl. Percy jumped. The girl was staring at him. Her eyes were the exact same color as the blue section of her hair.

"Your hair is blue," he said. Then he winced. The girl laughed.

"It's called hair dye. I suspect you must have heard of it. That color can't be natural." She reached out and fingered a lock of Percy's bright red hair. Percy was now leaning so far away from the girl that he was in danger of falling out of his seat. The strange Muggle girl laughed again.

"You seem a bit uptight, my friend," she said. "You should learn to loosen up a bit. What's your name?"

"Uh… I'm Percy," he said awkwardly.

"Percy, huh? Nice to meet you, Percy. I'm Audrey Sharpe." She gave him a mischievous grin, like they'd been friends for ages. Percy glanced down at his paperwork.

"My stop's next," he said.

"Really? Mine too!"

Percy groaned inwardly. After two awkward minutes of making conversation, he had learned that Audrey was an art major at a nearby college, was single, had a pet canary, and was allergic to nuts. When the bus rolled to a stop, Percy hopped up and tried to escape, but a very large woman had stood up in front of him and blocked his path. He groaned again. He tried to escape again when they got off the bus, but the strange blue-haired girl followed him.

"So, Percy, where're you going?" asked Audrey. Percy checked his file and read off the address. "Aww, that's a shame. We're going different directions!"

"Shame," muttered Percy, not really meaning it. She stopped and faced him.

"Well, it's been great meeting you, Percy!" Then, completely unexpectedly, she grabbed his shoulders, rose onto her tiptoes, and kissed him hard on the mouth. She pulled away and gave him that same clever little smile. Then she turned and skipped away. Percy put a hand out to steady himself. He had never met a girl like Audrey before – a fact which he was quite grateful for. He did his task quickly, not focusing at all. He considered Obliviating himself as well as the poor Muggle – but something stopped him. He didn't really _want _to forget that strange blue-haired girl.

_I'm probably just going insane,_ he thought grimly. _At least I won't see her ever again. _

He had no idea just how wrong he was.

**A/N I really enjoyed writing this. Audrey clashes sooooo much with Percy. Ha, he's so uptight. Next chapter will be up soon enough, hopefully!**

**Love,**

**Tape Monkey**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Well! Chapter two is officially here! :) I am extremely grateful for the *cough* THREE people who reviewed (two of which were my friends because I forced them)! **

**Dear friends:**

**REVIEW!**

**Thank you,**

**Tape Monkey**

**Disclaimer which I forgot last chapter: I own everything! LOL JK :)**

**Oh, and by the way, Charlie's in Romania, Bill is with Fleur and 2 year old Victorie at Shell Cottage, and Fred's dead,** **but they're the only Weasleys that aren't there. Also, Harry and Herman are at dinner too (hehehe reference!). Just couldn't find a place to write that in so I put it here!**

**This chapter is dedicated to my two bffs/unofficial beta readers/bodyguards/rivals, Maragoose the Pink Unicorn (username thepinkunicorn) and Coifish the Reluctant Mermaid (username JinxedAgain)!**

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><p>Chapter 2<p>

Percy Weasley was not hungry. In fact, he wouldn't even be at the table if he had a choice. Unfortunately, he was being forced by his mother to visit with family and not do more work. _Oh well,_ he thought. _I probably wouldn't have been able to concentrate on my work either. _

He pushed his food – a delicious pot roast that he would have loved any other time – around on his plate. He looked up and caught his mother watching him knowingly. _Great. Just my luck to have an intuitive mother._

"Mother, can I please leave the table?" said Percy.

"You hardly ate any of your pot roast!" she said. _Typical_, thought Percy.

"I ate – um, I ate earlier," said Percy awkwardly. He hated lying almost as much as being late. _I bet Audrey would be okay with lying_, he thought. A second later, he realized what he had thought and had to restrain himself from hitting his head on the table. _Why can't I stop thinking about her?_

"You all right, Perce?" said George quietly. Everyone looked at him, shocked. He still hardly talked, and the war had been three years ago.

"Um, I'm all right, just a little – um, tired," said Percy.

"I hope you know that if you need anything, you can talk to me, Percy," said Mr. Weasley.

"Nope, I'm all right," he said, not convincing anyone.

Ms. Weasley smiled at him. Mr. Weasley looked concerned. Ronald looked confused, Hermione looked thoughtful, Ginny looked amused, Harry looked indifferent, and George looked sad, as usual.

"Um, I'll just be going then," he said awkwardly. He left in what he hoped to be a casual manner and then dashed up to his bedroom, hitting his head against the wall.

Back in the dining room, the rest of the Weasleys were confused.

"What's wrong with him?" said Ron abruptly. Hermione hit him for his lack of tact, but forgave him when he kissed her softly.

"Um, not at the dinner table, please," said Ginny. "And isn't it obvious? He met a girl the other day, and he's not sure how he feels about her. I mean, it's Percy, he's never been the best with feelings, you know?" Ms. Weasley nodded approvingly.

"You're so smart, Gin," said Harry. "And that's why I love you." He put his arms around Ginny.

"Hypocrites," muttered Ron.

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><p>Audrey Sharpe was not poor. The fact that she was walking home in 6 inches of snow had nothing to do with the fact that she only owned a bicycle, thank you very much. Biking happens to be a very honorable mode of transportation (when it's <em>not <em>snowing), and besides, cars are nasty, polluting monstrosities anyway. But that's beside the point. The point is that Audrey Sharpe was not a poor, starving artist-in-training. She was an environmentalist and a hipster.

"Doesn't make it any less cold," she murmured to herself. Audrey glanced up at the street sign and groaned. She had been going the wrong way!

Thirty toe-freezing minutes later, Audrey trudged into her apartment, throwing off her outerwear gratefully.

"Susie… I got lost again!" she complained to her roommate.

"Should I be surprised? Throw me my shoes." Susie didn't even move from where she was relaxing on her bed.

Audrey bent down and picked up a pair of beaten ballet slippers.

"You mean these?" she said. Susie nodded. Audrey handed her the satiny shoes, only to have Susie throw them violently at the wall.

"I'm guessing you did that on purpose?" said Audrey, pulling off her boots.

"Stupid pointe shoes. I have blisters all over my toes."

"Cool," said Audrey. "Oh, and I got another one!"

"Really? Ooh, was he any good?"

"He was a ginger!" said Audrey. Susie laughed with delight. "I think I scared him, though."

Susie pulled out a battered notebook with the label "Boys We've Kissed" and flipped to the next open page.

"So… Name?"

"Percy," said Audrey. "No last name."

"Awesome. Appearance?"

"Ginger, freckles, horn-rimmed glasses, very tall and skinny."

"Rating out of ten?"

"Umm… I'd say seven, because he was really a horrid kisser, but his reaction was so worth it!"

"I'm still in the lead," said Susie.

"I didn't recall it being a race…" said Audrey. Susie made a "psh" noise in return.

"I hope you know that you're going to kiss Chris one of these days," said Susie.

"Not if I can help it," said Audrey. "He's a stuck-up, annoying jerk."

"That he is," said Susie. "And last but not least, would you do it again?"

Audrey thought about it for a minute.

"Yup," she said.

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><p><strong>AN Chapter two is officially complete! Next chapter they'll have another run-in, don't worry! :D**

**REVIEWWWWW! OR ELSE I WILL SET MY EVIL MINIONS ON YOUUUUU! AND THEN THEY WILL FORCE YOU TO REVIEWWWWWWW!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Yes, yes, I know. No need to tell me. I'm pretty sure it makes me an awful human being to not update for almost a year and a half (literally!). But chapter 3 is finally here, and ready to be read! **

Percy Weasley's day was already off to a hideous start. After waking up late (_again!_), he ended up running out the door of his flat with one shoe untied, his hair rumpled, and half a bagel in his mouth. And if that wasn't bad enough, he slipped on the icy spot outside his flat and just about killed his tailbone. Then he dropped his coffee all over a Muggle woman's purse, and had to hastily apologize as he dashed away, yelling that he was late for work. The woman seemed very displeased, so Percy had to make a quick dash into the tube station to get away. Of course, at the tube station, he ended up getting run over by a bunch of Ukrainian tourists, crushed by the closing doors, and stuffed under a sweaty American man's armpit (seriously, who sweats that much in February?). By the time he _finally_ got to the Ministry, he felt like he'd been trampled by a dragon.

He stumbled in to the Atrium, breathing hard and shivering, his hair like a bird's nest and a huge coffee stain on his new robes. _Ah well,_ he thought. _At least I'm safe now._

He had barely finished the thought when a snide voice came from behind him.

"Percy Weasley," the woman said. "Hero or Hypocrite?"

Percy wheeled around and saw none other than Rita Skeeter.

"We all have heard the story of the rebel Weasley who chose his work over his family," said Skeeter, her quill magically suspended, ready to write. "And, of course, we all know about the mysterious circumstances when he joined the Battle of Hogwarts – in which the Minister of Magic escaped with only a mild hex, but entrepreneur and twin brother Fred Weasley died horribly. Coincidence? That's what I'm here to find out. I am Rita Skeeter, reporting for the…"

Percy didn't hear any more. His vision tunneled. _Yes, _he wanted to say. _Yes to all. It's my fault. It's my-_ "You horrible woman," he hissed. "You conniving little serpent. How dare you speak of my brother? How dare you mention his name? You are not worthy to clean the mud off his shoes. How dare-"

"Percy!" Percy quickly straightened up, realizing that he had backed Skeeter into a wall.

"Hermione," he breathed.

"Is she bothering you?" said Hermione worriedly. "Because I'm sure she'll stop right now – _won't you, Rita?" _

"Um, I'm all right," stammered Percy. "Thanks, Hermione."

"You know, why don't you take a walk?" said Hermione. "The fresh air will do you good."

"I'll do that, I guess," said Percy, slowly backing away from the two witches. Then he turned tail and got out of that building as fast as he could.

Sure enough, the air did do him good. The cold stung his cheeks and his flush began to subside. He took a few deep breaths. Maybe he'd go get another coffee – it would be sure to help.

Decisive now, Percy headed off towards the nearest coffee shop – but not before he was careful to follow Ministry regulation and change his work robes into casual Muggle attire.

As he got farther and farther away from the incident, Percy started to cheer up. He was out of work early – Hermione was sure to explain his absence – and even better, nobody here knew the truth about him.

_Yes, _he thought, rounding a corner. _Nothing can go wrong now- _

Then, three things happened at once. One, he collided suddenly with a very solid and very human object. Two, his red Converses slipped on a patch of ice. Three, he threw his arms instinctively around the solid human object. So he ended up flat on his back in the snow, with a blue-eyed blonde-haired person on top of him.

Wait.

_He knew those blue eyes. _

"Well, shit," said Percy.

"Percy!" crowed Audrey Sharpe from on top of him. "My ginger best friend!"

"Sorry for running into you," said Percy. "Will you get off of me?"

"Ugh, fine," said Audrey, rolling sideways and landing next to him on the ground.

Percy sat up slowly, hoping nothing was broken and cursing his awful luck.

_Well, bye then, _said his brain.

"Coffee?" said his mouth.

Audrey's small face lit up in a radiant smile.

"Thought you'd never ask," she said.

_Shit, _thought Percy.

"…And then he said to me, I didn't say _gateau, _I said _chateau! _ So I was sitting there in French class, holding a freaking _cake, _while it turns out the project had been on _castles!_" Audrey's peal of laughter rung through the little coffee shop.

"Hold on, you really did that?" said Percy, smiling despite himself.

"I really did!" exclaimed Audrey. "It was _sooooooo _embarrassing! People called me Gateau Audrey for months afterward."

"Better than Weatherby," commented Percy. "My old boss never learned my name once. Called me Weatherby instead of Weasley the whole time I worked for him!"

"No way," gasped Audrey. "How long?"

"Ten whole months," said Percy grimly.

"And what an impression you made," said Audrey completely deadpan. They both held that for a second or two before bursting out laughing.

"Percy Weatherby!" said Audrey, almost choking with laughter. "Ten months!"

"Gateau Audrey," Percy shot back. This made Audrey laugh even harder.

"I can't believe it. Any other embarrassing stories?"

"Well," said Percy. "My brothers slipped dra- uh, horse dung in my inbox once. They said it was a sample of fertilizer from Norway!"

Audrey gave a very unladylike snort as she pictured Percy's expression in that situation.

"What did you do with it?" she asked.

Percy leaned in conspiratorially. "I gave it to my boss because I didn't get that it was a joke!"

Audrey started laughing at this – again.

_I like making her laugh, _thought Percy. _Wait. No, I don't. Yes, I do. Yes or no? No or yes? Coffee or work? Audrey Sharpe or Rita Skeeter? Laughter or pain? Friendship or hiding? Which do I choose? _

"You gonna pay?" asked Audrey.

Percy looked down. Sure enough, sitting in front of him was the check.

"Um," he said.

Audrey leaned forward and rested her chin in her palms. She batted her eyes and let her blue streak of hair fall forward.

"Please?" she said, sticking out her bottom lip slightly.

"Fine," grumbled Percy, pulling out a ten-pound note, thankful he remembered to stock up on his Muggle money.

"Yay!" squealed Audrey. "Don't worry – next one's on me."

"Next – one –?" stammered Percy.

"We're doing this again next Wednesday."

"We are?" said Percy, dumbfounded.

Audrey scribbled something on a pad of paper.

"This is my phone number. Do call me if you have to cancel. But preferably, don't cancel. See you in a week, Percy Weasley."

With that, she stood up, grabbed her coat, and swept out of the shop. Percy half-wondered why she didn't try to attack-kiss him again.

Before the thought finished forming, he had leapt out of his seat and dashed out the door after Audrey.

"Audrey Sharpe, wait up!" he called.

Audrey turned, smiling to see him again.

"Percy! I didn't expect-"

She was cut off when Percy drew her towards him and planted a kiss right on her lips.

It lasted a good long second or two, and Audrey's eyes were shining when he pulled away.

"See you next week!" he yelled over his shoulder as he dashed away.

Audrey almost giggled girlishly as she turned to leave when she caught sight of another redheaded boy standing in shock a couple of feet away.

"You know him?" Audrey laughed.

"That's my brother," said the redhead, sounding traumatized.

"Is he?" said Audrey. "Well, he's a great kisser."

"I DIDN'T NEED TO KNOW THAT!" shouted Ron Weasley as the mysterious Muggle girl skipped away. Oh, Ginny was _so _going to hear about this.


	4. Chapter 4

**I did what I swore I'd never do... I wrote a Valentine's Day themed chapter. I know, I know. I'm weak. Forgive me. It just kind of happened while I was writing it. Don't judge!**

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><p>Audrey Sharpe was having an awful Valentine's Day. She woke up after an intense drinking competition with Susie where they ended up deciding that Benedict Cumberbatch was gay for Martin Freeman and still going to marry both of them. Completely hung over with a pounding headache, she stumbled her way through her work day at the grocery store. Some short blond guy decided to have a row with the chip and PIN machine, which just made her head hurt worse. Her boss nearly fired her for almost setting the coffee machine on fire (it is possible, believe me) and she had to deal with even more bitchy customers than usual. One frazzled mother went all-out screaming at Audrey when she told the woman that no, customers weren't allowed to return half-drank cartons of milk. As if that wasn't enough, the woman had to set her young kid on the counter, who then proceeded to yank at Audrey's hair. When Audrey tried to scold the kid, though, the mother then decided that Audrey was assaulting her child and swept out, leaving Audrey with an aching scalp and a dripping container of milk.<p>

The only thing that made her day worthwhile was looking forward to her coffee date with Percy. That hot ginger piece o' white chocolate had managed to sneak into her everyday thoughts and routines. He was sweet and awkward, which Audrey loved, but he also had a mysterious side – as if he was hiding something. So not only was he yummy and cute, he was also a bit of a puzzle. To Audrey, who had always had a thing for troubled boys, the only thing that would have made Percy better was if he ran up to her with a big bow on his head, holding out a bouquet of flowers.

This thought managed to keep her sane as the day went on. When she finally got off work, Audrey's day was decisively looking up. She tossed her stupid ugly grocery store shirt in her bag and pulled on a nice warm comfy cute jumper. She strolled out of the store, her smile growing ever so slightly. She hailed a cab and got one on the first try.

_See, things aren't too bad,_ thought Audrey. _You're in a nice warm cab, not walking on the street. You have off work tomorrow. Your hangover has virtually disappeared. And you're on your way to a maybe-date with your maybe-boyfriend - on Valentine's day, no less. Things are pretty good. _

She was basically bouncing instead of walking when she got to the little coffee shop to meet Percy. She walked in, scanned the room, and realized he wasn't there. Ah, well. She was a few minutes early. She could wait.

So she resolutely took a seat and waited.

12:00, their meeting time, came. He didn't come.

10 minutes passed. He still didn't come.

20 minutes. Not here yet.

Half an hour. Audrey was starting to worry.

An hour. Still no sign of him.

When the two-hour mark came, Audrey's worry turned into anger.

"Of course," she muttered under her breath, standing and storming out of the coffee shop. "How typical."

She marched through the doorway, knocking a nice old lady's shopping out of her hands. This was great. Just great. She could feel her headache coming back. This was so typical of her life. Percy probably forgot about her. Or maybe he just didn't care enough to come back. Or maybe she overdid her quirkiness and he thought she was just weird and scary. Either way, Audrey's entire day came crashing down. She pulled out her iPod and opened the playlist entitled ":(" – a joke Susie invented. When they first met, Susie had been sure to create an angst playlist on Audrey's iPod – just in case some guy ditched her. Audrey braced herself. She never thought this day would come - but here it was. It was time now. Audrey slipped her headphones on, clicked on "Shuffle," and resigned herself to wallow in misery for her entire cold, awful walk home.

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><p>Okay, so yes. Percy Weasley <em>did <em>forget about his date with Audrey. He did that thing he always does where he got so absorbed in a work project that he literally didn't think about anything else. He almost forgot to eat and would have gone without lunch had his brother not personally brought him food.

"Here," said Ron bluntly, dropping a corned-beef sandwich on Percy's desk. Percy glanced up, confused, and wrinkled his forehead.

"What's this for?" he asked, confused.

"Food," said Ron. "In exchange for information."

"Fair enough," said Percy, unwrapping the sandwich and taking a bite. "Ugh, corned beef."

Ron lowered himself– rather dramatically, Percy thought – in the chair next to the desk. "Were you or were you not talking to a Muggle girl with the name of Audrey Sharpe exactly a week ago?" he said, steepling his fingers like he was some sort of important detective.

The corned beef sandwich slid from Percy's hands and landed right on top of all his important paperwork.

"Well?" said Ron, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh my god, I'm an awful human being," gasped Percy.

"Huh?" said Ron. "What'd you do now?"

"I was supposed to meet Audrey today – two _hours _ago – but I _completely forgot!_" said Percy, leaping to his feet.

"Oh," Ron said. "You are an awful human being."

"Oh god, it's Valentine's Day, too!" said Percy, frantically running his hands through his hair.

"Who's this Valent bloke, and why does he have a day?" said Ron, looking befuddled.

Percy momentarily put his freak out on pause to glare at Ron. "How do you not know what Valentine's Day is?"

"I didn't take Muggle Studies!" Ron said, raising his arms defensively.

Percy sighed. "It's when the guys are really nice to girls and buy them flowers and stuff. Muggle girls turn into monsters when you forget it though! I looked it up on the Googler!"

"So… if Hermione was angry at me this morning… was it because…" Ron frowned, connecting the dots. "Does she just want some flowers? That's it? I thought I had done something really wrong!"

"And chocolate," Percy said. "Lots of chocolate. Now _get out of my way!"_

With that, Percy dashed out of the door, sending all sorts of important paperwork and one corned beef sandwich flying through the air.

Percy basically sprinted to the little coffee shop, almost forgetting to Transfigure his robes into Muggle clothes. He arrived heaving for breath in the coffee shop, scanning for Audrey. She wasn't there – not surprising, seeing as he was two hours late.

He turned to a little old Muggle woman. "Have you – uff – have you seen – girl – blonde hair – blue streak – probably really pissed-"

"She left, my dear," the old woman said, her eyes twinkling. "She's only been gone about 30 seconds. If you run, you'll catch her."

Percy stammered out a quick apology and ran out the door. He dashed down the street in the direction the old lady said, skidding to a halt before a little roadside florist's cart.

"Roses," he gasped. "I need some -"

"Forgot, eh?" said the florist, chuckling. "Happens to the best of us."

"Just gimme some flowers," panted Percy, slapping what he hoped was Muggle money down on the counter.

"Mate, that's not gonna buy you much more than a couple of weeds," said the florist, furrowing his brow at the money.

"Alrighty then," said Percy. "_Confundus."_ He then proceeded to grab the nicest bouquet of roses there.

"Have a nice day," said the florist dreamily as Percy ran off again.

He ran all the way to the tube station on a hunch – a good one, luckily. He leapt up onto a chair to get a better view, causing a street musician to cry out in protest, almost dropping his saxophone. In the crowded station, he could just spot Audrey's head over the masses of people.

Audrey wouldn't have noticed a jackhammer over her angst music. Every single man, woman, and child she saw just seemed to make her hate life even more. _Especially _all the couples. Who gave them the right to smooch and show off like that?

Absorbed in her own thoughts, Audrey boarded the train, purposely ramming into a young couple busy sucking face. And of course, all the seats on the train were taken. Audrey let out a few choice words as she was jostled into a tight space between two baby strollers.

Next came a commotion even she could hear. At the doors of the train, a redheaded figure was pushing its way on to the too-crowded train.

Audrey's jaw dropped and she pulled her headphones off. _It couldn't be. _

But it was. Almost majestically, Percy knocked past two mothers holding huge bags of pink and sparkly wrapping paper. The bags flew everywhere. Pink wrapping paper rolled across the train, painting everything with huge swatches of pinkness. A container of confetti burst, sending pink and white confetti hearts flying into the air, only for them to drift gently back down. Percy got stuck between the one woman and her bag. Struggling to get loose, Percy ripped at the paper bag. It burst, sending pink and red bows flying. Percy, ducking to avoid the woman's wrath, ran straight into the path of the falling bows. A huge pink bow stuck securely into his messy red hair, where it clashed horribly.

Triumphantly, Percy stepped up to Audrey, surrounded by pink confetti hearts. He had a big bow on his head and handed her a bouquet of roses.

Audrey covered her mouth, but a laugh bubbled out anyway. Her worst day in the world had just turned into the best moment of her life.

She looked at Percy, his brown eyes big and pleading for forgiveness. He was still gulping for air. He must have chased her all the way to the station!

In that moment, Audrey realized how bad he must have felt for messing up and how hard he just worked to mend his mistake. Something in her melted a little, and she felt like she grew up. Just a tiny bit.

She stepped forward and took his hand.

"Let's go get some coffee," she said, smiling at him.


End file.
